AstraZeneca Closes Supply Pact with EC for 400 M Doses of COVID Vaccine
AstraZeneca has concluded an agreement with the European Commission (EC) to supply up to 400 million doses of AZD1222, the COVID-19 vaccine co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spinout company, Vaccitech, and licensed by AstraZeneca.
Building on the existing agreement with Europe’s Inclusive Vaccines Alliance led by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, this new agreement will give all EU member states the option to access the vaccine in an equitable manner at no profit during the pandemic. It also allows EU member states to redirect doses to other European countries.
In July 2020, interim results from the ongoing Phase I/II COV001 trial were published in The Lancet and showed AZD1222 was tolerated and generated robust immune responses against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in all evaluated participants, as reported by AstraZeneca. Clinical development of AZD1222 is progressing globally with late-stage Phase II/III trials ongoing in the UK and Brazil, a Phase I/II trial in South Africa, and trials planned in the US, Japan and Russia. Results from the late-stage trials are anticipated later this year (2020), depending on the rate of infection within the clinical trial communities.
AstraZeneca says it continues to engage with governments, multilateral organizations, and partners globally to ensure broad and equitable access to the vaccine, should clinical trials prove successful. Recent supply announcements with Russia, South Korea, Japan, China, Latin America and Brazil take the global supply capacity toward three billion doses of the vaccine.
Source: AstraZeneca